Monthly Archives: July 2012

“There’s a storm coming”, Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) warns billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) in “The Dark Knight Rises”. “You and your friends better batten down the hatches, cause when it hits, you're all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large, and leave so little for the rest of us."

The latest Irish League of Credit Unions “What’s Left” income survey shows deterioration in disposable income and an increased reliance on borrowing to make ends meet. The survey exposes the failing austerity policies that are hitting the incomes and quality of life of millions in Ireland.

The International Monetary Fund has called for the property tax on the family home due to come in next year to be introduced at a "suitably high level". Cabinet meetings are due to restart on 4 September and it is likely that the assessment method and the level of the tax will be decided at one of the first few meetings.

The derogatory remarks made by Mick Wallace TD about the Socialist Party while speaking on the Personal Insolvency Bill, reflect poorly on a TD who claims to operate in the public interest. The Socialist Party has taken a principled stand on all the issues related to Mick Wallace and his failure to declare and pay VAT - we reiterate that he should pay all the monies now owed to the state and put all the relevant information regarding his dealings with the Revenue Commissioners into the public domain.

The scandalous fall of Chongqing CCP (Communist Party) kingpin Bo Xilai earlier this year marked a turning point in China’s recent history. The governmental crisis and sharp internal power struggle that Bo’s exit signifies has combined with an abrupt economic slowdown, heightening fears of a so-called ‘hard landing’, to present a massive challenge to the outgoing leadership around president Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao.

Thousands of coal miners arrived in Madrid, last week, completing another march on the capital as part of the struggle to defend their jobs. They were greeted by thousands of workers and youth from Madrid who poured onto the streets to express their solidarity. Fire-fighters escorted the miners through Madrid, stripping off in front of the parliament to show their solidarity.

There is only one real scandal involved in the issues surrounding Health Minister James Reilly’s problems arising from his investment in a private nursing home in County Tipperary. It is not because his name is in Stubbs Gazette as a debtor nor is it being in a financial conflict with those who invested with him in this project in 2010. The scandal is that the care of our elderly people in this State should be seen as a commercial opportunity for profit making through speculative investments by private commercial companies and individuals. An that this should be supported by massive tax breaks for wealthy investors.

The failure of Mick Wallace to provide certain information to the Oireachtas Committee on Members' Interests of Dáil Eireann and his failure to deal with the controversy regarding his under declaration and non payment of VAT in a fully open manner will only raise questions amongst ordinary working class people.

Conspiracy theories have had something of a resurgence in recent times. Even during the global Occupy movement it was common to meet people who claimed that a secret clique of bankers are running the world, that money is the source of all our problems, or that 9/11 was an inside job.